Jul

We’ll fly another day

So the shuttle didn’t go up Saturday. At least it could be blamed on the weather and not the “can’t do” spirit that seems to plague NASA these days. There is a lot of pressure to make this mission a success for the aging shuttle program, but as usual the media is trumping it up to be the death knell for America’s future in space if it should fail. We’ve seen failure in space before, kids. Painful as it was, we have learned from our mistakes and soldiered on. It is not in this country’s nature to cut and run in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges.

Instead of being pessimistic and speculating about defeat, let’s put a positive spin on this one and say it will be a great reaffirmation of America’s scientific know-how when it does succeed. I’ve always been a huge fan of the American space program in part because of all the great benefits it has yielded over the years. If you think that we have wasted money on exploring space, then you must have no appreciation for cell phones, GPS technology, cable television, numerous scientific and medical improvements, up-to-the-minute weather reports, the Internet, etc. But then again, I guess the world needs Luddites too.

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